THE IDEAL OF DHARMA ¼/keZ½ OR JUSTICE IN INDIAN CULTURE

Dr R. N. Sharma

Justice is not merely right determination and

adjudication of disputes and enforcement of Law, but is so

comprehensive in its meaning and import that it takes with

in its ambit the whole of political, social, juristic and

moral idealism. It is so, because Justice has reference to

the whole of human existence which we want to realize by our

thought, will and action. The mystery of Justice cannot be

unraveled by human reason, logic or language completely. It

has greater appeal to human soul. Justice as reality is only

fully reflected in our conscience and felt through our

intuition.

Jurists and philosophers have seen in the concept of

justice their own ideal. To Plato Justice is realization of

‘Good’ which can be achieved in society by doing one’s own

duty according to one’s station in life otherwise, Justice

achieves ‘Good’ by retribution; .To Aristotle Justice in its

general meaning is ‘righteousness’. In its particular

meaning it means proper or equitable distribution of the

goods of existence, correction of wrongs and exchange of

goods. It has thus distributive, corrective and commutative

functions.

Prof. of Law, Faculty of Law, Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur

1. Dark and Bright Zones of Justice : In Judaism in the

theology of Hebrews we find that in the old testament God

is described as the ‘Just God’ who gives his Commandments

or Law and punishes for violation or disobedience.

According to the theological myth God had decreed the

whole human race to suffer for the sins of primal human

couple Adam and Eve who had eaten the forbidden or

prohibited fruit of ‘Knowledge’ while living in their,

primordial happy abode in the ‘Garden of Eden’ Adam and

Eve were cast down to this mortal earth to suffer the

punishment forever. Mankind as a whole which is the

progeny of Adam and Eve thus was made to suffer for the

sins of mankind’s progenitors vicariously without any

great hope of salvation. This shows the grim side of

Justice which is sternly punitive and retributive. But it

is the one side of the coin, for it has also the bright

side which is represented in the ‘New Testament’ by the

prospective theory of redemption according to which Jesus

Christ as the son of God descends on earth and takes

birth to suffer and to be crucified. So he comes to

redeem humanity by his own blood and preaches ‘love thy

neighbor’ to all. Justice then becomes pure and

unconditional love of human beings as brothers. Service

and sacrifice thus becomes the modes of enforcement of

Justice which uphold the love of man for another man as

‘brother’, for all are the children of the same God.

These are the two poles of Justice. Which show that the

doctrine of justice has a wide horizon which extends from

retribution to reformation, from condemnation to condo

nation, from bondage to redemption and from human guilt

to Godly grace. Justice is then also forgetfulness of

wrongs and complete forgiveness in love and sympathy.

Justice in this sense rises above all the false

distinctions of class creed and color, social

discriminations and disabilities and becomes man’s pure

love, regard, mutual concern and welfare. It enjoins upon

all to love by mutual understanding and respect beyond

all the privileges of authority, status and position.

Such an ideal human existence may seem impossible with in

the present frame work of the State in this world today,

which is swayed by the sorrow and trouble generated by

mutual distrust, prejudice and greed. But the truth is

that in the heart of our hearts we have begun to realize

that all men are brothers and should love each other,

that all power and property is meant ultimately for human

service and welfare. Justice in essence is the message of

love, human service and is welfarism. This is the

heavenly destination of Justice which man has necessarily

to travel by passing through all the trials and

tribulations, retributions and condemnations to have the

grace of salvation from the varied ills and wrongs,

pains and tortures, fears and frauds and all the

unnerving illusions and delusions of human life.

2. Etymology of Justice :

The word justice comes from its Latin root ‘Jus’

meaning ‘right’. It has its literal meaning as

‘binding’ or fitting or tying together of things and

qualities harmoniously in human life. Thus Justice

becomes a means of adjustment and a measurement. The

idol of Justice blindfolded with balance in hand gives

the expression of balancing, weighing and impartial

judging which applies to disputes and conflicts. For

this purpose justice becomes the referee to give

decision of victory or defeat to parties. It seems that

Justice has more utility for a conflict situation. It

balances principles like liberty, equality etc also.

Speculation about justice grew early in western

materialistic society which from the very beginning had

political orientation of western society in Greece

which had to deal with conflicts. In contrast to this

in Indian culture there had been no loss of faith

between religious authority and political authority.

Indian cultural drive from the very beginning is more

towards integration and less towards deciding the

conflicts between individual, state and society

interse. Law as dharma was both a verdict and a faith,

political trust, the commandment of Law as well as

justice.

3. De-Valuation of Justice in Materialistic Positivistic

Jurisprudence :

As an ideal Justice is the expression of Right or right

living. It therefore, becomes the standard of

evaluation of positive Law. But positivistic

Jurisprudence discards morality and ethics from the

sphere of Jurisprudence, for it justice is to be done

according the precept of law only, otherwise justice is

only to be treated as sheer morality. This is the view

point of Austinian legal theory. According to Kelsen

Justice is not viable to reason and logic. It is

declared as an ‘irrational ideal’, The pragmatic theory

of Roscoe Pound considers Justice as adjustment of

human relations and adhoc balancing of interests.

American realism is skeptic about Justice. Scandinavian

realists discard all metaphysics and ethics from the

theory of Law. They assert that there can be no science

of values and thus reject the theory or concept of

justice down right. For them all values are subjective

and therefore devoid of objectivity and meaning. The

traditional idea of justice considers traditional

institutions of society as just while trans-traditional

idea of justice derives principles of justice outside

systems including legal system and institutions of

society so depreciation of justice goes on.

4. The Functional Role of Justice :

Though it is difficult to know the nature and content

of justice yet the idea of justice has been effective

in the course of centuries in performing the function

of excluding arbitrariness, in providing rational

method of settling disputes and in restraining the

coercive powers of Law. Justice as impartiality has

been recognized from the very beginning of the

civilization in ancient Egypt and the land of early

Hebrews. “It has mainly been concerned with control of

aggression and discrimination”. It has helped in

mitigation of inequalities generated by institutions.

In the name of justice “certain limitations are

embodied in the constitutions. The exclusion of

arbitrariness grows gradually in the sphere of criminal

law”. Again in “modern times the principle of

distributive justice of Aristotle has its use for

equitable distribution of means, physical and mental

well being in a highly differentiated and large scale

society. We now agree that gross inequalities are

unjust and that it is just that minimum conditions of

well being be provided to all; yet there is no

agreement about just distribution of property.”

Although justice may not be defined but injustice is

always felt. So man has some instinct to repel against

injustice. So the glamour for justice continues. The

idea of justice has thus performed the role of bringing

reform in Law by making it more and more rational and

humane.”

Therefore “whatever be the difficulties that befall, or

encounters are made the search for justice continues.

The plea for justice should not be rejected as

meaningless, chimerical, irrational or false for there

is danger that the human race will fall back into a

condition of barbarism and ignorance where unreason

will prevail over rationality.

5. Ancient Indian Concept of Dharma ¼/keZ½ As Justice :

Materialistic western Jurisprudence which is the

byproduct of exploration of matter, commercialization

of life and its values, promotion of prospects of

material comforts, turning towards territorial

aggrandizement, germinating warring ideologies,

nurturing or nurtured by disharmonies of social and

individual existence can not think of spiritual concept

like that of dharma to solve the problems of Law and

life. With less faith in religion and inward inquiry to

know the ultimate truth of life, the western mind saw

conflict, strife and struggle as the essential nature

of life. To reconcile conflicts and to balance opposing

interests without any reference to religion or God

whose authority began to be challenged, the West sought

after the secular doctrine of Justice which had a

fighting and overcoming potentiality with enough

militancy. The utilization of balancing and measuring

virtue of justice to decide the conflicting claims of

society, State and individual interse, was resorted to

but it proved in vain. So now it seems that the western

mind is looking to some other ideological expedients in

the name of justice to get solutions and relief’s from

the multifarious contemporary problems and prevailing

maladies of modern life. To the ancient Indian mind.

the concept of Dharma implied the concept of justice to

cope with all the exigencies of life. Dharma was not

merely the code of human conduct and regulation of life

in detail, it was the Reality itself as the counterpart

of Brahman which was its metaphysical expression. The

ultimate reality reflected by both Dharma and Brahman

was described as ‘Sachidanand’, ¼lfPpnkuUn½ which

constituted of ‘Sat’ ¼lr~½ as universal existence

‘Chit’ ¼fpŸk½ as universal consciousness and eternal

Annand as Bliss. Existence leads to knowledge

rightness, reason and truth, consciousness leads to

will, power, action etc. and Annand leads to

satisfaction, happiness, peace, welfare etc. From this

point of view Dharma is justice because it is the

expression of Right, Truth, Existence etc., which also

implies knowledge and virtue. Dharma as consciousness

implies will, desire, power and action for reformation

and regulation of life. Dharma as bliss implies real

satisfaction- material as well as spiritual. The latter

is more enduring and is related to soul as the former

is related to body as sensual pleasure. Dharma as

right or Justice prevails over wrong or adharma ¼v/keZ½

or injustice.

(a) ‘Sat’ ¼lr~½ – as Justice or Dharma as Right ,Truth and

Existence : The reality as existence is not mere physical

existence but is total existence of which human existence is

only a little part. The ultimate truth of this existence

which is to be known and realized. Dharma as Justice is the

knowledge of Existence as all knowledge leads to truth.

Existence, truth and knowledge are correlative as well as

synonymous. Dharma as justice is right observance of truth

in conduct of life i.e. in thought, word and deed. It then

becomes a norm of good and virtuous life. Justice has thus

to satisfy the standard of truth in every way. In ancient

India legal trial was called ‘Vyavhar’ ¼O;ogkj½. As a

variation of Dharma it was considered as an inquiry into

truth ¼rRoHk>Olk½. Law as Dharma was to be just and also

needed right or true interpretation ¼ehekalk½ of the

prescriptions of Law. Dharma as Justice is then observance

of truth in thought, word and deed. Truth is said to be

always victorious, ¼lR;eso t;rs½ and is always convincing

and thus satisfying to all. Truth rejects formalism,

superstition, dogmatism and recommends change and reform for

progressive realization of the goals of life by rising above

false distinctions of caste, creed and color etc. The so

called injustices in human life can be seen as mere

‘untruths’, ‘sham’s and falsities of life. Mahatma Gandhi

equated truth with God and formulated the theory of

‘Satyagarh’ ¼lR;kxzg½ or ‘holding to truth’ as a method of

willful disobedience to unjust law which amounts to

violation of truth as reflected is human soul or man’s

conscience. Justice is then ‘truth is action,’ Vivek ¼foosd½

or reason is also a method of knowing, or ascertaining the

truth of the matter i.e. to determine truth rightly. As

truth is dynamic, reason determines truth or justice again

and again with its new forms and modifications with

reference to utility, mercy, public good in order to make it

living and more workable. Reason as truth derecognizes

obsolete customs, wrong practices, old methods of working

like trials by ordeals, oaths, stakes and other irrational

procedures, appeals, executions etc. Rational inquiry and

investigation has brought about the modernization of

administration of Justice and reform of Law. Again, Rational

inquiry emphasizes the need of impartiality which is an

essential quality of justice, as deemed necessary to

establish the rule of law. This makes law the ruler of

rulers as declared by our Upanishads. Dharma or Justice

without equality and mercy cannot appeal to the heart or

soul of man which requires Dharma or Justice true or

adaptable to the circumstances of the case. Again, Justice

as enforcement of truth impartially cannot be done without

realization of one’s own obligation to right performance of

one’s duties properly. Therefore right performance of one’s

duties guarantees justice or Dharma according to ‘Gita’.

Dharma or Justice, then resides in, truth, reason,

impartiality and in performance of one’s duties which has

reference to total good of human existence on this earth.

(b) Chit as Justice or Dharma as Shakti ¼'kfDr½ or Power, as

will and determination - Theory of Karma ¼deZ½ and Dandniti

¼n.Muhfr½ :- Justice as knowledge has power to work as well

as to make men virtuous by enlightenment. In its retributive

aspect it is power of punishment and rewards which is

necessary to maintain social order, peace and security. In

Indian culture justice is also vindicated by the inexorable

law of Karma as natural law or natural justice which works

automatically and governs also rebirth and transmigration of

souls. It depends on the principle of just result of actions

and is exemplified by the precept “as you sow, so shall you

reap”. So natural as well as moral retribution governs this

world by its ‘Karmic’ ¼dkfeZd½ Justice which holds man fully

responsible for his actions. On this principle a man must

suffer for his wrongful actions. As a matter of right the

State by its power of punishment is only enforcing the law

of Karma as Dharma or Justice which is called Dandniti in

Ancient India. Retributive punishment for vindication of law

is thus “an extension of the principle of causation in

nature and becomes the principle of natural action”. The

doctrine of rebirth and transmigration of souls is the

logical out come of the Law of ‘Karma’. It also provides an

explanation of man’s present status and position in society

which is seen as the result of his past ‘Karma’s or deeds in

previous life. “After death, Yama, the God of Justice or

Dharma, Judges men’s actions when brought to his court by

his messengers according to which the next birth is

determined”. As a man can not live without performance of

actions, ‘Gita’ exhorts man to perform actions according to

ones duty enjoined by Dharma or Law without any desire for

fruits or rewards i.e., dispassionately in the spirit of

‘Yajna’ or the spirit of sacrifice. The doctrine of Karma is

also interpreted by Lok Manya Tilak as a principle of

collective justice because man is a part of society and

makes society responsible for his actions vicariously. “On

this interpretation of the Karmas of race determine the rise

and fall of nations and their analysis becomes a subject of

the principles of the philosophy of history”. Gita also

gives expression to the socialistic principle of social and

economic justice when it declares that, ‘He who enjoys

objects given by Gods without making offering in return to

them is a thief. The same idea has been expressed in

Ishavasyopanishett,. ‘There is the dwelling place of God in

everything that is moving in this world. Enjoy the world

with a sense of selflessness; do not hanker after another

man’s wealth’, “As every social organism is a body with a

soul, it follows that all black marketeers, profiteers and

other persons indulging in antisocial activities, whether on

small or big scale are not merely thieves, but guilty of

causing a grievous hurt, as by their actions they disfigure

and mutilate the collective body of the community in which

they live. Justice as punishment contributes to order, peace

and security in society. But today we consider the security

of the people against certain other hazards, risks and

vicissitudes of human life (old age, illness accidents,

unemployment) as part of justice to make safeguards. Law

today, is making provisions for old age, pensions, health

services, workmen’s compensations, insurance schemes etc.

and all these schemes are designated as social welfare

schemes which the westerners, regard their own discovery.

Mahabharat certainly speaks for the help to be given to

orphans, ailing persons, old men etc. It was considered a

moral duty of a King as a part of ‘Rajniti’ ¼jktuhfr½ to

provide social security to his subjects. Justice, also has

to provide equal opportunities of life by removing

inequalities of wealth and living conditions”. In ancient

India there was equality before law, as law as Dharma was

considered superior to any political or other authority. At

the initial stage the Varna ¼o.kZ½ system was based on equal

opportunities according to person’s aptitudes to preserve

social harmony. This Varna ¼o.kZ½ system degenerated later

due to historical reasons and also due to social stagnation.

In the society of early Vedic period women were equal in

rank with men; the King governed by the advice of

assemblies; republication form of government was also

popular; widows were free to remarry, daughters got a share

in father’s property, there were inter-caste marriages;

people were free to preach and adopt any doctrine, religion

and could adopt any mode of worship. It is only due to

historical reasons and later social deterioration that

unequal conditions of life began to prevail. It is the task

set for the present legislators to repair the harm which has

been done to us by centuries of political enslavement and

social stagnation”. This requirement of Justice is fulfilled

by our present Constitution.

(c) Justice as Power of Arth ¼vFkZ½ or Economic Power as

Pursuit of Material Well-being :

Justice as Right or Reality must have reference to the whole

existence which has to be accepted, maintained and enriched.

Justice thus understood is not only realization of truth of

reality through knowledge. It is more essential to realize

the truth of material human existence by pursuit of ‘Arth’

or material well being viz. ‘Attainment of riches,’

material advantages, wealth and all that covers commercial

life, business affairs, work, prices, etc; Arth in the

sphere of law means plaint, action petition; in politics it

is the interest of the State i.e.; expedience. In man’s life

in general it is utility, that is what is useful”. The

sources of economic justice or Arth are economic activity,

commerce and agriculture- all of them were called ‘Varta’

¼ozr½. It is declared in Kamandak’s Nitisara-- that “when

Varta is destroyed this world is surely dead though it seems

to breathe”. Arth for this purpose has been declared as the

source of the whole World. Wealth and wealth alone is

important because lack of wealth is the root of all evils”.

All this shows that justice has to maintain the balance

between spiritual and material welfare. There should be

harmonious development of Dharma and Arth. It was considered

unjust for the State to rob people of their wealth or not to

provide them economic opportunity for their material well

being. Mahatama Gandhi has brought about the synthesis of

Dharma and Arth by his principle of ‘Trusteeship of

property’ by the rich for the good of the poor. He has

condemned economic exploitation, profiteering and mammon

worship and pleaded for the rise of all classes and people

by his concept of ‘Sarvodaya’ ¼loksaZn;½ or the rise of all.

He, thus upholds economic justice. Our Indian Constitution

is also wedded to this Justice in every way. It aspires for

political, economic, and social justice in fulfillment of

the ideal of Arth of ancient India. Our Upanishads also

recommend “enjoyment of worldly goods without selfishness,

greed and avarice”.

(d) Annand as Justice viz, satisfaction of self, of mind as

well as soul:

As the reality is reflected in human soul as Sat, Chit,

Annand and the justice as Right is an aspect of reality it

self, it can not but lead to perfect happiness which in

Indian culture is called Annand as fulfillment in itself.

But at the cosmic level of the creation this Annand is

expressed as unfulfilled desire ‘Kama’ or the creative force

which urges itself to be fulfilled by the process of

creation of the world through evolution. This fulfillment

requires efforts and exertions. Annand or Bliss or Happiness

is to be regained by man who becomes delimited by the bounds

of body consciousness and is carried away by sensual

satisfaction. In one of the Rigvadic hymn called Nasadiya

Hymn. This Kama or desire for Annand is stated as the cause

of the creation of this world. In this the Being of Reality

appears as Becoming which is to be realized. In this way

‘beinghood’ can be realized by the course of ‘becoming. when

it gets ‘Annand’ or satisfaction of the self or soul.

Therefore the whole creation including human beings throbs

with this desire for joy, for fulfillment or happiness. But

this satisfaction of desire or drive for happiness or bliss

is not to be understood as only utilitarian materialistic

satisfaction of passions as sensual pleasure but is its

higher grade as real or purified pleasure called Atma

¼vkRek½ – Kama ¼dke½ or Atmatusti ¼vkRerq"Vh½ which is the

satisfaction of Self or Soul. Materialistic satisfaction is

only “adhoc, provisional and transitory”. It cannot be

permanent and does not give tranquility of mind and real

peace which sets at rest all craving and striving.

Materialistic satisfaction in the long run becomes futile

and illusory. The truth is that real satisfaction comes from

with in, from man’s realization of his self or spirit. It is

in our soul that real truth or reality is seated. This truth

is the truth of the whole existence. To get real

satisfaction, joy or Annand we must first purify our soul

and purge it from all passions and prejudices known as ‘Kama

Krodh, Lobh and Moha’ ¼dke] dzks/k] yksHk ,oa eksg½ It is

so, that by giving material happiness to others we get

spiritual happiness through the medium of human service and

sacrifice in the spirit of Love, Karuna ¼d:.kk½ as Christ

and Buddha enjoined. When we purify our soul, it is

automatically filled by human love and sympathy. In order to

serve the higher purposes of life our soul is thus saturated

with the sense of service and yearning for human welfare.

Justice as ‘Kama’ through creation or Maya ¼ek;k½ or lila is

desire to know and realize ‘Annandam’ or Reality itself.

This joy or happiness increases by its distribution to

others. Justice as ‘Annand’ has kinship with others regard.

It then becomes ‘good’ or ‘welfare’. In this respect justice

as Dharma and law assumes the beneficial aspect of joy and

happiness, revealed in welfare of people ‘Lok Sangraha’

¼yksd laxzg½ or ‘Lok Kalyan’ ¼yksd dY;k.k½. The impulse for

human welfare is also then the spirit of Justice as

‘Annand’. At the lowest animal level Kama is called the

‘sensual pleasure’ ‘Vasana’, at the higher level it is

aesthetic enjoyment where beauty is truth and truth is

beauty which gives. enlightenment. Such joy or Annand is

recognized as one of the aspects or ‘Vibhuties ¼foHkwfr½ of

‘God’ as ‘Reality’. ‘Kama’ becomes the motive force for the

creation of this World to get this Annand. According to our

Vedas Dharma or Law or Justice thus becomes the means or

instrument of securing ultimate happiness to all. Justice is

therefore, an ideal aspiration for the welfare of this whole

World. Ordinary pleasure in order to become ‘Just must be

sublimated into the higher type of pleasure which is not the

satisfaction of body but is the satisfaction of soul. This

happens when man proceeds from what is pleasurable (Preya)

¼izs;½ to what is good (Sreya) ¼Js;½ through Dharma or

Justice man has to march progressively from physical

biological being hood to spiritual being-hood. The state of

infinite Joy and Bliss residing in man’s possession is there

in his ‘Annand – Maya- Kosh ¼vkuUn & ek;k & dks"k½ of the

self. His self love at higher developed level becomes love

of others or love of all. ‘Kama’ in its purest sense is not

sex or sensual enjoyment but a virtuous happy living” in joy

and consciousness of a limitless ocean of Joy greater than

which there is no happiness- such is the nature of Annand.

The urge for “common human welfare and service naturally

ensues from the concept of the brotherhood of man and

common parenthood of God”. For the large hearted people the

whole World is one family. Our Atharvaveda ¼vFkZoosn½ says

that God who is the common father urges us to come together

and says “freed from hate I bring to you concord and

unanimity”. “…. may your wealth be your service; may our

action and our intellectual pursuit conduce to your

happiness; may our studies our knowledge promote your well

being; and may all that you have, promote our welfare”.

Justice in all its dimensions- political, economic and

social does aspire for this ideal. The concept of Yajna ¼;K½

in Ancient India puts more emphasis upon the spirit of

sacrifice self less service and welfare. For this reason

Yajna is also identified with the status of God because

welfare is the expression of Annandam’ which is the

beneficence or grace of God. On this basis Vinoba Bhave

has started two movements called Bhoodan Yajna ¼Hkw nku ;K½

and Sampati Dan Yajna, ¼lEifŸk nku ;K½ the aim of which was

to do justice to the land less and the poor by making

available to them land and wealth. From the point of view of

Dharma as Justice even punishment by law should be given for

the welfare of the individual and society in the spirit of

Yajna or sacred duty and as a worship of God who is himself

the epitome of human welfare. Justice by its elevation is

then Human Welfare without which it cannot satisfy our human

soul, nor can be certified as ‘Kama’ or God’s ‘Shakti’.

(e) Concept of Justice or Dharma as Annand – Freedom From

bondage

The concept of human freedom is considered as the glory of

the western materialistic civilization and culture. The

urge for freedom has led to enhancement of man’s power of

control over nature and development of technology to give

more impetus to satisfaction of wants, to acquire and

accumulate more property, to provide more comforts and

luxuries, to enlarge man’s contractual capacity, to

propagation of natural rights and now ‘Human Rights’ etc.In

this way the theory of freedom has become also the theory of

Justice. On the count that freedom is necessary to provide

the opportunities for development of human personality and

for utilization of his inborn potentialities to the fullest

extent freedom is justified. Though we in Indian have fought

for freedom against political enslavement which is a

necessary requirement for our national identify and

existence, yet the ideology of freedom as freedom for its

own sake is not Justified. The freedom craved by the western

mind is the evil effect of exaggerated individualism which

gives more sanctity to the private property and has resulted

in exploitation of class by class of individuals. The Indian

concept of freedom is based on man’s realization of his own

responsibilities where duties are more important than rights

for individual and social welfare. Real freedom does consist

in man’s self realization and in freeing one self from

material bonds and limitation of self and in reclamation of

spirit. At that stage freedom as an aspect of Justice or

Dharma becomes the complete ‘good’ and is materialized in

human service and welfare. It becomes then the perfection of

civilization.

Justice as an ideal has a spiritual value which expresses

spiritual humanism, which is the ultimate goal of our

civilization and culture and is still more of an aspiration

than a fulfillment. Achievement of Justice through the

process of law is still full of uncertainties and

difficulties for the poor and ignorant people of India. The

Just settlement of disputes is still a matter of chance and

luck due to various faults defects, laches, and inadequacies

of law and procedure. Litigation is still a costly game

which people can ill afford. The whole legal system has

become a time consuming machine with mounting arrears and

with all its delays and denials of Justice. This makes the

delivery of Justice deficient and way ward. The new reform

movement through clinical education, growth of public

interest litigation, recurrent holding of Lok Adalats,

dispensation of legal services by free legal aid and

introduction of computer technology etc. may improve our

delivery of Justice. We still aspire for that Justice like

that of Jahangiri Insaf or long to have Nyaya like that of

‘Judgment seat of Vikramaditya’ to have real justice for our

people.

(6) Conclusion :

We in India are living in the modern age. In ancient India

the concept of Dharma was the synthesis of law, religion and

morality. It represented the reality it self and the whole

of ‘Right and Truth of human life. It was the spirit of

Justice and the Victory of good over evil. Now we live in

multi- religious, multi lingual plural society. The word

‘Dharma’ as Justice may seem not so representative of all

the people of India due to its modern meaning as ‘religion’

only. But we need some other concept like Dharma which can

represent Justice as a whole.

In ancient India Dharma was considered as the complete

constitution of our ancient Indian Society. Now our

Constitutionalism represents our Dharma and justice which

balances and harmonizes parliamentary democracy with

presidential form of Government, preambular declaration of

liberty, equality and fraternity with emergency powers, and

fundamental rights of individuals with economic and social

goals of Directive Principles of State Policy. Thus Indian

Constitution makes India a welfare state to enforce socio

economic justice progressively. It has articulated the aim

to establish a socialistic pattern of society. Further to

make Indian people as right conscious as well as duty

conscious our Constitution has given place now to the

Fundamental Duties of citizens. Our Constitutional faith in

peaceful co-existence; internationalism etc. shows our

resolve to lay the strong foundation of a ‘Just Society’.

The regular course of five year plans, decentralization,

adoption of autonomous ‘Panchayati Raj’, policy of non

alignment and assertions of peaceful co-existence, our

commitment for peaceful use of nuclear energy with out

losing sight of the need of security and self defense of the

state etc, are all in tune with the spirit of Indian

culture. Our constitutionalism is the new incarnation of our

old concept of Dharma which expresses our will and

determination to uphold justice in every walk of life of the

Indian people.